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Velvetleaf

Cissampelos pareira

Velvetleaf
Photo: Krish Dulal, CC BY-SA 3.0

Velvetleaf (Cissampelos pareira) is a slender, hairy climbing vine of the moonseed family, grown mainly for medicine in tropical regions rather than as an ornamental. It needs warm, humid conditions and a support to climb on.

Family
Menispermaceae (Menisperm family)
Grows as
Climber
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep soil evenly moist during the growing season and let the top layer dry slightly between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile loam or a rich potting mix.
Temperature
20–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Tropics & Subtropics
Climate
wet tropical

About

Cissampelos pareira (velvetleaf) is a species of flowering plant in the family Menispermaceae.

Uses

Cissampelos pareira is used in Chinese herbology, where it is called xí shēng téng (Chinese: 锡生藤) or yà hū nú (Chinese: 亞乎奴). The species is also known as abuta and called laghu patha in Ayurvedic medicine. In Tamil Nadu it is called ponmusutai and it is used for a number of medicinal purposes.

Other Cissampelos plants

Cissampelos

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cissampelos pareira by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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